More fiber stash bashing

PiaBooks & reading

I haven’t been spinning since my fat singles adventure, but this week I thought I’d get out two braids of Rambouillet that I bought summer 2011 from CJ Delights.

rambouillet1

I’m hoping they will take up less space as yarn, although braids are actually quite dense, but I also decided to use them for practising consistensy, so I’m just spinning and spinning from one end to the other, planning to make a chain-ply. I’ve got 3 batches of Targhee from Spunky Eclectic that are destined for the same fate.

Normally I’ve been able to put 100 g on my small bobbins, as you can see I’ve started to pack it down one end, but then I realised I had nearly 60 g of fiber left and gave up, started a new bobbin with the rest. I hope this means my yarn is getting fluffier = more yardage, but I’m not really organized enough to have kept solid records of everything I make.

rambouillet2

And then today I read Woolwinding’s review of “The Spinner’s book of Yarn Designs” and was tempted to buy that and use my assorted fibers for something fun – but there’s time. Another time. (although the page says they only have 6 left, and not, as they usually add “…but more on the way”. ACK – what if they get sold out. Sigh. You have no idea what my Amazon wish list looks like. I need some cash. Wanna buy yarn?

Lageroprydning

Spinder Rambouillet denne uge, som jeg købte for et par år siden. Sådan et par fletninger er egentlig ret kompakte, men jeg håber alligevel at jeg kan frigøre mere lagerplads ved at lave fiber om til garn. Så jeg bruger de her købte, færdigfarvede fibre til at øve mig i ensartet spinding.

Jeg var lidt overrasket over, at spolen var så fuld kun halvvejs gennem den første fletning, normalt har jeg let kunnet have 100 g på, men her er altså kun godt 60g, så jeg valgte at starte en ny frem for at kæmpe med at få det til at være der. Jeg kunne sikkert godt, men jeg har jo rigeligt med spoler.

Det er dejlig blød og bamset fiber, men det er jo også en art merino. Minder måske egentlig lidt mere om Polwarth? Det er længe siden jeg har spundet Polwarth.

Vodka

PiaPlant Dyeing

…is what my kitchen reeks of as we’re speaking.

perikum1From this jar which I prepared in August and then completely forgot about, filled with flowers of St. John’s Wort. I suppose technically they can’t rot infused with alcohol, but the colour is definitely not the brilliant red it was in September.

I know Rita Buchanan says you don’t get interesting colours with the alcohol solution, but I didn’t find enough flowers per day to make boiling worthwhile. I also didn’t have any mordanted yarn, so I did a reverse, first I entered an unmordanted skein and left on the woodstove for a few days, then I put mordant in the jar with another skein, left it on the stove, then decided to boil it in the oven for an hour or so.

And that is why my house stinks. Just wait until I pour it into the sink…. I guess it’s a good thing I’m home alone and not expecting company! (ok, the kitten in my lap just farted – that didn’t help any, but if he keeps it up perhaps nobody will suspect me of drinking at least)

Well, they’re not alike. That counts for something, right? First on top.

perikum2

Today

PiaChit Chat

Another gorgeous day to look at after a stormy Saturday by the sea. It’s still painfully cold, but the sun, ah, the sun! Makes me feel like this: (remember to turn up your speakers)

So I mentioned a picture book about my Charlie and how I’ve had the title ready for years but not really getting any further ideas. Well, after going public with it, suddenly little sentences are plopping into my head while I’m driving, when I wake up, nothing to make a Stephen King sized novel, but quite amazing considering my brain has been on strike for so long. Trickle is fine, I still have all the artwork to do. 😉

I’ve also experienced lately how communicating openly about various issues, such as carrying an emotional trauma in my body from multiple “rodeo” incidents in the last 10 years that were both shocking and painful (no, not Charlie’s doing), makes the whole issue, not solved and gone but somewhat deflated, a lot calmer and slightly more rational. Simply by acknowledging, to myself not the least, that the problem exists. I had been putting that one at the bottom of my list of “things to work with” and suddenly realised it might actually belong somewhere at the top (or I just finally got ready to deal with it – long story that I’m not going to bore you with)

This is very interesting to me – how speaking your intention out loud apparently sets wheels in motion that just thinking and worrying in your own head doesn’t. Maybe it’s just a coincidence. But it’s something I’m going to play with. A new level of honesty – not that I lie, but there’s lots I don’t tell for various reasons. Or I gloss over problems: real horsegurlz aren’t scared of anything, right? What is also interesting about this concept is whether it sharpens my own resolve, focus, ability to see the path. Will my words and thoughts about subjects become less fuzzy and click into place? I’m sure we could all use more clarity from time to time, or am I the only one who has no clue where I’m headed and what my “calling” might be?

To be continued – a storm of comments are as always welcome.

I still haven't decided on the image style for Charlies book - 3D, cartoon style, painting, a mix?
I still haven’t decided on the image style for Charlie’s book – 3D, cartoon style, painting, a mix?

Beginning of the end

PiaChit Chat

Do I feel a slight hint of spring on the frosty breeze? When the sun is out, I can almost imagine…. So I put the laundry outside on the line! Aaah, yes, I’m definitely ready.

Not quite there yet
Not quite there yet…

I’ve been working on a few things this week that I thought I was going to blog about, but none of them are quite done yet. I did finish my dry leaves printing experiment and I’m not very impressed, so that project post got archived vertically as we say here. As in, I’m not even going to bother scanning the results for you. Cochineal prints lovely on paper though, but it also  pokes a lot of holes, LOL.

Knitting and spinning progress = 0

I’ve been thinking a lot about my painting etc. which normally is a really bad sign, and probably is in this case too, but I seem to be all over the place and that’s not very constructive either. To improve your skills it really works best to pick a theme and make multiple versions. You rarely fix all your mistakes in one go.

One minute I’m into intuitive abstracts, the next I’m trying for the impressionistic turneresque landscapes in my mind which on canvas then looks more like a naive illustration for a childrens’ book. Which I kinda dig too, in fact it could be a very good way to warm up for a picture book which title has been floating in my head for 7-8 years about my horse Charlie. Problem is, I have the format in place, but the actual plot is missing. Would be a great tribute now that he’s gone. I also had wanted to do a series of cartoons around the critters, probably for 10-12 years, but made TWO crummy attempts. Now we have Fergus who is everything I wanted to do exactly, and I’m not jealous, I LOVE Fergus, but I’m not going to copy any of it when he’s obviously so much better than anything I can output at this time. 😉 However, my brain has produced a couple of cartoon sketches this week, nothing original, but I may just work on them anyway – for the practice.

Charlie's favourite trick - as you can see I take my riding dead seriously
Charlie’s favourite trick – as you can see I take my riding dead seriously

So it’s a lovely day out today, and even though I’d really like to work on my mandalas and one of my wip paintings, I should go be outside. I’m sure I’ll feel all the better for it. Dog to be walked, firewood to be stacked, maybe I should actually go riding on the old silly? And all the frozen horsepoop in the paddock is probably going to unfreeze real soon. It’ll be so good for my back and biceps….

And, well, spring on the way also means photo weather, if my old Canon 20D is still willing (shutter has passed the average number of exposures for this model). Not that it’s impossible in winter, I just don’t like being outside in the cold wind and the batteries die to quick. Anyone want to sponsor me a 7D house?! I promise I’ll do at least one excursion every week to a new location. 😀